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Friday, June 24, 2011

Top Five Sports TV Shows- #2

It's the Case and Point list of the Top Five Sports TV Shows. So far we've gone over a special honorable mention plus the fifth, fourth, and third ranked TV show. To see who ranks number two on the list, click below to read more!

*My huge TV knowledge revolves around pretty much anything from 1990, which even then is limited until about 1995 for the full spectrum of shows. Oh, and for this case ignoring reality shows like Hard Knocks and HBO's 24/7.

To watch the very first episode of Sports Night is to not watch the rest of the series. Like most TV shows the pilot is simple, it establishes characters, and it does not reveal the full potential of what the show will become. However, there is something more jarring about the first episode of Sports Night. It just feels weird.

While it would eventually find it's witty, fast paced stride about six episodes into the first of two seasons the pilot was forced into an odd mold that the show quickly broke away from. Around the time of Jeremy Goodwin's (Joshua Molina) frantic, over the top job interview you think that this is off. If you let yourself over look it and wander on into the world of the entire Sports Night crew you were greatly rewarded.

The show, focused on the inner workings of a SportsCenter -esque show, featured a great cast of actors which you will still see to this day. The main anchors of SportsNight, Casey McCall (Peter Krause) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) mimic the chemistry created by the likes of Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick in their SportsCenter heyday. Behind the scenes the interactions of now hired producer Jeremy, his sometime girlfriend Natalie Hurley (Sabrina Lloyd) and Executive Producer Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) provide the meat of the tales with the father figure of Managing Editor Isaac Jaffey (Robert Guilluame) watches over as best he can.

Conceived and co-written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), the show reflects his rapid back and forth style with a strong approach towards whit and charm for each of the main characters, all of which are at some point portrayed as flawed and human that makes you realize that as great as the life may seem, they have the same problems we do.

Though extremely popular with critics, the show never quite caught on with fans. As such, a really bright, charming, funny, witty, and attention grabbing show only went on for two seasons. Each half hour episode was a new chapter in a book that you wanted to continue reading. Unfortunately the printers ran out of ink far too soon.
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